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Wesseagussett Colony
Wessagusset Colony (sometimes called the Weston Colony or Weymouth Colony) was a short-lived English trading colony in New England located in present-day Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was settled in August 1622 by between fifty and sixty colonists who were ill-prepared for colonial life. The colony was settled without adequate provisions, and was dissolved in late March 1623 after harming relations with local Native Americans. Surviving colonists joined Plymouth Colony or returned to England. It was the second settlement in Massachusetts, predating the Massachusetts Bay Colony by six years. Historian Charles Francis Adams Jr. referred to the colony as "ill-conceived, "ill-executed, and ill-fated". It is best remembered for the battle (some say massacre) there between Plymouth troops led by Myles Standish (c1584-1656) and an Indian force led by Pecksuot. This battle scarred relations between the Plymouth colonists and the natives and was fictionalized two centuries later in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. In September 1623, a second colony led by Governor-General Robert Gorges was created in the abandoned site at Wessagusset. This colony was rechristened as Weymouth and was also unsuccessful, and Governor Gorges returned to England the following year. Despite that, some settlers remained in the village and it was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. 1st Colony of Wesseagussett An advance team of several settlers arrived at the Plymouth Colony in May 1622. They had voyaged to the new world on board the Sparrow, an English fishing-vessel which was sailing to the coast of modern-day Maine. After arriving at the coast of Maine, they traveled the final 150 miles (240 km) in a shallop with three members of the Sparrow's crew.6 These colonists stayed only briefly in Plymouth before scouting the coast in their shallop to find a site for their colony. After finding one, they negotiated with the sachem Aberdecest for the land and returned to Plymouth, sending the shallop and her small crew back to the Sparrow, and awaited the remainder of the colonists. The main body of colonists set off from London in April 1622 on board two ships, the Charity and the Swan. The settlers fared poorly during the winter of 1622/23, nearly starving. Their was a battle on 10 March and several natives were killed. After this the colony was abandoned, some settlers went north to Maine, others to Plymouth and others returning home to England. Known Settlers of First Colony # Thomas Weston (1584-1647) - Colony Founder # Richard Greene (c1580-1622) - 1st governor of Wesseagussett # John Sanders (c1580-?) - 2nd governor of Wesseagussett # Phineas Pratt (1590-1680) - found at Plymouth on 1623 Plymouth Land Census # John Pratt (c1588-) - bother of Phineas Bowman in MD 4:87, 129 relates much of what is known about Pratt, including his role in alerting the Plymouth settlers about the plight of the Wessagusset settlers. See Pratt's own Petition, found in Mass. Historical Society Collections - 4:479 (4th Series). Standish Expedtion In July 1622, two ships with passengers, the Charity and the Swan. They were sent by Thomas Weston who had sold his shares in the Plymouth Company and formed a new company to settle Wesseagussett Colony nearby to the north in Massachusetts Bay. This group included many unsavory individuals who "borrowed" much from the Plymouth Colony foodstocks. That group ran out of food by Nov 1622 and started to steal food stuffs from the Indian. They formed a joint trade expedition between the two groups to trade with the indians, but that mission was fraught with much tragedy, sickness, boat wreck and the death of their indian guide and interpreter Squanto (c1585-1622). Trade goods were stolen and relations with various local tribes deteriorated badly with even an attempt to assasinate Captain Standish. Meanwhile, Edward Winslow (1595-1655) was called upon to help doctor a very sick Massasoit (c1581-1661), leader of the other indian tribe. After recovering quickly from a nearly fatal sickness, a grateful Massasoit told Winslow about the indian plot to destory the colonists and urged them to kill the rebel indian leaders. A few days later one of the Wessagusset colonists, Phineas Pratt (1590-1680), came running all the way through the snow to Plymouth to tell about the terrible state of the colony there. He had also heard slip from an indian woman about the plot to destroy the English colonies. Captain Standish was authorized to kill Wituwamat, leader of the rebel indian band. He went north to Wesseagusett and found conditions near starvation there. He advised all of those colonists to go to Maine and catch a ride home to England with any fishing vessels they might find there. His group then continued their hunt for the hostile indian group. They soon afterwards encountered the hostile indians and killed several of their leaders. At the same time the Wesseagusett group disbanded with many going to Maine but a few came to join the Plymouth group. 1623 2nd Colony of Wesseagussett At approximately the same time, the Plymouth Council for New England was sponsoring a new colony for New England. A patent for a settlement covering 300 square miles (780 km2) of what is now north-east of Boston Bay was given to an English captain and son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Robert Gorges. This settlement was intended to be a spiritual and civil capital of the council's New England colonies.30 Gorges was commissioned as Governor-General with authority over Plymouth and presumably future colonies. His government was also to consist of a leadership council, of which Plymouth's Governor Bradford would be a member. Unlike Weston, who had brought only working men, Gorges brought families intending for a permanent settlement. And unlike the Puritans, Gorges brought the Church of England with him, in the form of two clergymen who would oversee the spiritual health of the region. Gorges arrived in Massachusetts in September 1623, only four months after Weston's colony collapsed. Instead of founding his colony at the location described in the patent, he instead chose the abandoned settlement at Wessagusset for his site. It was rechristened Weymouth after Weymouth, Dorset, the town where the expedition began. Over the following weeks, he visited Plymouth and ordered the arrest of Thomas Weston who had arrived in that colony in the Swan. This was his only official act as Governor-General.30 Weston was charged with neglect in his colony and with selling weapons were supposed to have been used for the defense of the colony. Weston denied the first charge, but confessed to the second. After consideration, Gorges released Weston "on his word" and he eventually settled as a politician in Virginia and Maryland. After wintering in Weymouth, Gorges abandoned his new colony in the spring of 1624 due to financial difficulties.34 Most of his settlers returned to England, but some remained in as colonists in Weymouth, Plymouth, or Virginia. The remaining Weymouth settlers were supported by Plymouth until they were made part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop visited the settlement in 1632.35 In time, the location of the original settlement was lost to history and development. The location of the original fort was not rediscovered until 1891. Known Settlers of Second Colony In Sept 1623, the ship Katherine arrives with a group of settlers financed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. They stop shortly at Plymouth before continuing onwards to the Weymouth Settlment. # Robert Gorges (1595-c1628) - Governor of 2nd Colony. # Edward Smith (1604-1675) - settled at Weymouth MA prior to 1642. See Also * Wikipedia:Wessagusset Colony * Colonial Governors of Massachusetts * Familypedia:Plymouth Colony Category:Colonial settlements in North America Category:Former English colonies Category:Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts Category:History of Massachusetts Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies Category:Settlements established in 1622 Category:1622 establishments in Massachusetts Category:1623 disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies Category:States and territories established in 1622 Category:Former settlements in Massachusetts